Cargill has suspended new business with IOI and called on the palm oil supplier to “take further action to resolve the charges that resulted in its RSPO suspension and address longstanding environmental and social grievances”.
The chocolate industry should explore longer four-year financing projects for cocoa farmers if it is serious about making the cocoa sector sustainable, says certification body Rainforest Alliance (RA).
Mars is working on packaging developments including a ‘fresh pack’ without an aluminum layer after missing its goal of making 100% of its packaging recyclable or recoverable by 2015.
This site attended the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York to see how trends including clean labels and plant-based protein are shaping the snacks and confectionery markets.
John Cadbury’s great great great grandson, James Cadbury, has received 150 orders in only five days after he launched his chocolate startup, Love Cocoa.
Exclusive Interview with Mars La Chola General Manager
French politicians have dropped the proposed palm oil tax, leading some politicians to say the country is being blackmailed by producer countries. "We are legislating with a knife at our throats," said one.
Ferrara Candy has set aside $10m in total marketing for its Black Forest Organic brand this year, including the first national digital campaign for the brand.
Confectionery products account for 1% of total packaged food that carries a sustainable palm oil label, according to new ethical labels data from Euromonitor.
The damage caused by IOI’s deforestation and peatland drainage is “far greater” than that detailed in the complaint that led to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil suspending the supplier back in April, says Greenpeace.
Ferrero is to double the amount of Fairtrade cocoa it purchases and will buy Fairtrade sugar for the first time as it targets 100% ‘sustainable' sugar by 2020.
Barry Callebaut is expanding its sustainability program in Indonesia and has announced plans to train 50,000 farmers in good agricultural practice by 2020.
Cocoa producer living income can be increased by gradually introducing large estates in traditionally smallholder areas, says the International Cocoa Organization’s executive director.
Swiss startup Choba Choba, partly owned by cocoa producers, has created an ultra-premium chocolate range made using a hybrid of CCN-51 and native Peruvian cocoa.
The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) has appointed its next full-time president, while Cargill has named a new global head of its cocoa and chocolate businesses.
Confectionery finishing agents supplier Capol expects its newly launched organic product offerings made from acacia and sunflower oil will attract strong demand in North America.
Snacking chocolate brand Brownie Brittle will be highlighting its first organic line at the upcoming Sweets & Snacks Expo as consumer interest in an organic diet grows.
Farm efficiency is back at heart of the industry’s sustainability push after Mars’ acquisition of Ecuadorian cocoa plantation Hacienda La Chola, according to Hardman Agribusiness.
Dutch sustainable supply chain adviser and NGO, Solidaridad, has denied allegations of tax avoidance and wrongdoing over its links with Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers scandal.
An incoming international standard on sustainable cocoa will bring farmers ‘one big step below the poverty-line’ if it remains unchanged, argues a farmers’ group.
Palsgaard, which makes emulsifier/stabilizer blends, which are used in products from cake mixes to chocolate, confectionery, dairy and ice cream, is the first Danish food producer to achieve CO2-neutrality.
Four of the world’s biggest food companies have moved swiftly to cease trading with Malaysian firm IOI after it fell foul of sustainable palm oil rules, but NGOs say it’s too little too late.
Future cocoa demand will be met by a thriving professionalized sector in Latin America as chocolate makers move away from a “structurally blighted” West African market, claims Hardman Agribusiness.
Australia’s leading chocolate companies such as Mondelēz, Nestlé, Mars and Lindt have all pledged to source only “sustainable” cocoa for domestically manufactured goods, says the Australian Industry Group.
Divine Chocolate has substantially increased group turnover to £12.6m (almost $18m) for the 12 months to June 2015 after merging its UK and US business units.
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) predicts cocoa coming from commercial plantations will rise from 5% of the world output today to 10% in the next 20 years.
Cocoa and other goods procured by forced or child labor have been banned from entering the US under recently enacted legislation, removing an earlier exemption.
Collaborative research by Fair Trade USA and Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) suggests 59% of consumers recognize the Fair Trade Certified label, compared to 38% in 2012.
Manufacturer Innocent Chocolate – whose products are said to have less impact on blood sugar than standard chocolate - is set to extend its range with new lines including chocolate chips and a spread.
Chocolate companies outside the top six need to up their games on sustainable cocoa to help bring millions of cocoa farmers in West Africa out of poverty and secure the crop’s future, says Cadbury’s former head of cocoa sourcing.
Mondelēz International‘s cocoa sourcing manager for Asia and Mars’ Vietnam cocoa manager are among the speakers at the 2nd annual Cocoa Revolution conference.
UK Fairtrade candy company Divine Chocolate hopes to grow in mainland Europe's leading retailers and is considering expanding its cocoa sourcing to create a single-origin range, says the firm's managing director.
Millennial consumers claim to favor ethical products, but are often unwilling to pay the premium in practice, according to a study supported by Hershey.